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John Kreese
| occupation = Karate instructor | spouse = | gender = Male | family = | children = | nationality = American }} John Kresse is a fictional character who appears in ''The Karate Kid'' series of films created by Robert Mark Kamen. He serves as the main antagonist of the [[The Karate Kid|original Karate Kid film]] as well as in The Karate Kid Part III. He also appeared in the opening scenes of The Karate Kid Part II. He has returned as an antagonist in the Cobra Kai web television series. The Karate Kid Sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove; Patrick Logan (young)) is a Vietnam War Veteran and the sensei of the Cobra Kai dojo. He also has an unethical and vicious way of teaching karate because he instructs his students to be merciless towards their opponents. In the first film, Kreese's best student, Johnny Lawrence, bullies and harasses Daniel LaRusso with his gang until they are stopped by Mr. Miyagi, who teaches Daniel karate. When Daniel and Miyagi resolve the conflict at the Cobra Kai dojo, Miyagi proposes that Daniel enter the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament where he will face the Cobra Kai students and demands that the bullying cease while Daniel trains. Kreese agrees, but warns that if they don't show up at the tournament, the Cobra Kai will continue to harass Daniel and also Miyagi. At the tournament, Daniel reaches the semi-finals while Johnny advances to the finals after defeating a highly skilled opponent. Kreese instructs Bobby Brown, one of his more compassionate students and the least vicious of Daniel's tormentors, to disable Daniel with an illegal attack on the knee. Bobby reluctantly does so, getting disqualified in the process. However, Daniel recovers and ultimately defeats Johnny, becoming the new champion. The Karate Kid Part II Furious, Kreese attacks Johnny in the parking lot, but is stopped by Miyagi, who easily defeats Kreese and humiliates him in front of his students. Kreese's abusive behavior results with him losing his students and going broke. The Karate Kid Part III Kreese visits his Vietnam war comrade Terry Silver, the wealthy owner of a toxic waste disposal business who offers to help Kreese gain revenge on Daniel and Miyagi and re-establish Cobra Kai. Silver sends Kreese to Tahiti to rest while he hires Mike Barnes to harass Daniel and beat him in the tournament. However, at the tournament, Barnes loses to Daniel and Cobra Kai is shut down. Cobra Kai Kreese returns in the first-season finale of Cobra Kai and faces his former pupil Johnny Lawrence. In Season 2, Kreese asks Johnny for forgiveness for attempting to kill him after losing to Daniel back in 1984. He also explains that after the original dojo closed down, he spent his life training soldiers during the Gulf War and the War in Afghanistan. The animosity between the two cools down when Johnny allows Kreese to attend Cobra Kai classes as an observer. When his students become concerned about Kreese's attitude and his war stories that do not add up, Johnny follows his former mentor to a homeless shelter. Kreese admits that he failed a psychological test when he attempted to re-enlist in the army and his war stories were lies. Upon realizing that Kreese has been teaching his students the old ways of Cobra Kai, Johnny kicks him out of the dojo. After Miguel is severely injured in his fight with Robby at school, the students lose faith in Johnny and side with Kreese, who reveals to Johnny that he convinced strip mall landlord Armand Zakarian to take the dojo away from him. Now being its sole sensei, Kreese hopes to turn Cobra Kai back to the ruthless organization it was. Conception The Role of the Karate Kid was originally designed for Chuck Norris but turned the role due to his concern it would give karate a bad image. The character was based on the creator Robert Mark Kamen friend Ed McGrath. Martin Kove got the role by being verbally abusive towards the director. Reception The character has had a mostly positive reception from critics and is viewed as a quintessential of a 1980s villian. References Category:The Karate Kid characters Category:Fictional European-Americans Category:Fictional martial arts trainers Category:Fictional Vietnam War veterans Category:Fictional karateka Category:Fictional Gulf War veterans Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1984